The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a second notebook article this evening. He discusses the Red Wings’ penchant for giving up late/early goals against Toronto last night, Jordan Oesterle’s play in his Red Wings debut, and the “teachable moments” that Moritz Seider is still having as a rookie:
A snippet in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Maple Leafs, on a Wings’ power play, showed the trials and tribulations of being a young NHL defenseman.
Early on the power play, Seider attempted a no-look pass that Toronto’s Pierre Engvall intercepted for a breakaway that goaltender Thomas Greiss stopped. But moments later, Seider set up Filip Zadina for a goal, tying the game.
The entire sequence was a teachable moment for the coaching staff, showing the good and bad for Seider, and how he can get better.
“He’s a real good talent, there’s no doubt,” Blashill said. “I don’t want him to be a good talent, I want him to be a great player. You can’t give up a breakaway on a power play that is unforced like that, he knows what. He did a lot of other good things and that’s what he does and how we want him to minimize the unforced errors.
“You’re always going to make mistakes, that’s the reality of hockey. But you want to minimize those unforced errors. I have a lot of confidence in Moritz Seider. He has to get better at things, too, so he’s getting minutes because we think he puts us in position to win hockey games.”
